Monday, April 30, 2012

Susan has been missing her voice in her disappearance, but now the Salt Lake Tribune has released her e-mails that show her wondering what happened to the funny, kind guy she fell in love with, and how he had evolved into some kind of monster she was contemplating leaving if he did not change. Unfortunately, we know how this turns out.

E-mails Susan Powell wrote to friends

Missing Utahn Susan Powell sent these emails to friends regarding her troubled marriage and worries about what her husband, Josh Powell, would do if she left him. The Salt Lake ... (More) Missing Utahn Susan Powell sent these emails to friends regarding her troubled marriage and worries about what her husband, Josh Powell, would do if she left him. The Salt Lake Tribune has redacted some names and emails at the request of recipients of the emails. (Less)

The Statement of Persons Nominated was released by the City of Bradford Council on 15 March.[9]
Former MP George Galloway confirmed on 6 March that he would stand on behalf of Respect, and later that day UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage announced that their candidate was former Green Party council candidate Sonja McNally.[10][11] On 8 March, the Liberal Democrats chose Bradford City councillor Jeanette Sunderland to be their candidate, and the Conservatives chose businesswoman and former Rotherham 2010 general election candidate Jackie Whiteley.[12][13] Labour chose Imran Hussain, the Deputy Leader of Bradford City Council, to be its candidate on 11 March.[14]
On 9 March, the Green Party announced that their candidate would be Dawud Islam,[15] a former Labour councillor and former Green local election candidate.[16] The candidate for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, Alan Hope, has contested seats on fourteen occasions, parliamentary elections and by-elections[17]. Hope used the ballot paper description "Monster Raving Loony William Hill Party" as part of a sponsorship deal. A meeting of the Democratic Nationalists held in Burnley confirmed that Neil Craig was standing for the party as he had done at the 2010 general election.[18]

The Labour candidate, Hussain, declared that he would not attend any hustings with other candidates, concentrating instead on meeting the electorate. Several senior Labour politicians, including Ed Miliband, Dennis Skinner, Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls, visited the constituency to support his campaign.[22]
Galloway's campaign sought to capitalise on discontent with the local Labour party and tension in the Asian community. He criticised the claimed role of "bradree" (an Urdu word denoting a hierarchical system of clan politics) in the area's local politics, particularly the local Labour party. He said that bradree was responsible for "second- and third-rate politicians particularly but not exclusively from the Labour party being elected to the city council on the basis not of ability, not of ideas, not on records of experience but on whether their father came from the same village as someone else's father 50 or 60 years ago". Naweed Hussain, a campaign manager for the former Labour MP Singh over the previous three general elections, defected and became a campaign manager for Galloway, complaining that Labour had been "bypassing democracy" in the seat. Hussain dismissed claims of nepotism.[22]The Times correspondent Michael Savage noticed that Galloway referred "heavily to his quasi-Islamic values in his campaign literature. One leaflet[23] proclaimed that 'God KNOWS who is a Muslim and he KNOWS who is not. I, George Galloway, do not drink and never have."[24] Galloway said that the photocopied leaflet in question, which did not, as electoral law requires, include the Respect logo, agent's name or address, had not been produced by him. He did however make similar comments in his campaign rally, saying 'I’m a better Pakistani than he [Mr Hussain] will ever be. God knows who’s a Muslim and who is not. And a man that’s never out of the pub shouldn’t be going around telling people you should vote for him because he’s a Muslim.'[25]
In the same newspaper, the Labour MP Diane Abbott argued that the result was not one of "identity" politics: "If Muslim voters in Bradford West were going to back someone who shared their ethnic identity, they would have voted for the excellent Labour candidate, who happens to be a local Muslim councillor. Furthermore, George won heavily in every ward, including many that were not majority Muslims."[26]

Respect are standing a total of 12 candidates in the May 2012 local elections in Bradford, although the party had said they would stand candidates in all 30 wards. The Green by-election candidate Dawud Islam defected to Respect on 3 April 2012.[27]